For 50 Years My Father

Attempting To Get At Truth Means Rejecting Stereotypes And Cliches.

My Wife [tina Brown] Co-founded The Daily Beast, So I Have No Hostility To The Web Or Internet. A Number Of Print Friends Of Mine Regard It As The Worst Thing That's Ever Happened, But I Don't.

I Think There's A Lot Of Benefit In Letting People Vent. When I Was On The Manchester Evening News, We Got 500 Letters A Day, And Part Of My Job As Editor Was To Edit Them. And I Thought That Was One Of The Best Things In The Newspaper, And It Was Instituted By An Editor Known As Big Tom, Who Said 'this Is The Voice Of The People.' And He Was Quite Right.

I Think A Lot Of Newspapers Have Lost Touch With That Sense Of Community, Which So Impressed Me As A Teenager When I Had To Knock On People's Doors.

Some Blogs Have Become The Best Check On Monopoly Mainstream Journalism, And They Provide A Surprisingly Frequent Source Of Initiative Reporting.